Information About My Tsuba Please!

[Mat]

After a long break I have bought a Tsuba again. It is iron with bronze and copper inlay, I think. The diameter is 7.6 cm, the thickness 6mm. Could you please help me identifying school, type and age, if possible?Thank you very much in advance!

Mat

 

[Stephen]

my guess

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=Heianjo+tsuba&num=20&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj0376hqIDOAhUn4oMKHcybAcIQ_AUICCgB&biw=1366&bih=681

[ROKUJURO]

Mat,

this looks like a very nice HEIANJO TSUBA, probably MUROMACHI JIDAI. Have a look: http://home.earthlink.net/~jggilbert/heianjo.htm. 

I like it a lot!

[Mat]

Thank you Stephen and ROKUJURO for your help and for the link it must be indeed a Heianjo Tsuba. Looking at the decoration I think it might be a bit later, maybe Momoyama? What do you think? I also have a question about the mon shown. I have seen it described as Matsudaira mon, but when I search for that, another mon is coming up, the one which was also used by the Tokugawa. Can you help me understand how the mon on my Tsuba is related to Matsudaira?

Mat

[Stephen]

HazMatt

 

It is based on the Mokko mon , which is Melon, so many to pick from. Id not try make a big deal of the mon, just enjoy the lovely Tsuba, id be proud to own that one.

[zanilu]

Hi to all.

 

If I may ask.

Which are the criteria that you use to define the age of a Heianjo Tsuba and which sources you use as guide if any. So far I have not found any reliable source in English that describes the features typical of Heianjo tsuba by period.I already have the "Tanoshi Shinchu Zogan Tsuba: 100 Tsuba by Otani" (http://www.japaneseswordbooksandtsuba.com/store/books/b970-tanoshi-shinshu-zogan-tsuba) but the Japanese text is a problem for me. I have also tried to guess a criteria for jidai identification by putting tsuba, from the above books and papered tsuba I have found on the net, on a table by supposed era but with little success (if you are interested I can post on NMB a pdf of the table). 

I have also bought the book from Mr. Murtha about Heianjo tsuba, where a lot of tsuba have been classified by the author. Unfortunately Mr. Murtha do not give any indication about the criteria he used!

I am a little bit frustrated  because I really like Heianjo tsuba but this lack of information is upsetting (a little disclaimer here, I usually buy books at a rate that is higher than my reading speed thus maybe I already have the right books but I have not already read them).

 

I hope that I have not hijacked the topic of this thread if so I apologize.

 

Best Regards

Luca

[Mat]

Thank you Stephen, I certainly enjoy it! Just to clarify, I did not mean the general shape of the Tsuba, but the cut out ornament that looks like two overlapping lozenges. Luca, I do not think that is hijacking, I have the same questions and would like to learn more abou how to date them...

[Mat]

I found some information on that ornament online: https://kodogunosekai.com/2011/02/26/950/#comments. It seems that it is common typical for Momoyama period...

[ROKUJURO]

'Mat',

please be so kind as to sign all posts at least with your first name plus an initial so we may address you politely. It is a rule on NMB.

What you see is not a MON, but a symbol for MATSUKAWA BISHI (Pine tree bark). It is often used in TSUBA design. 

To guess the age of a certain TSUBA is no easy task if you only have photos. What you can do is compare pictures of similar items in the respective literature and try to evaluate the material, style and workmanship, patina and condition of your TSUBA versus samples that have been dated by the experts.  

[Mat]

Jean, thank you for the information and sorry for not signing correctly!

Matthias W.

[zanilu]

Yeah Jean that's true but difficult and frustrating.

 

Checking patina is rather difficult, I think especially, with brass in Heiajo Zogan tsuba because brass patina is easily removed and reformed compared to Iron. Thus I suppose you are referring to the iron base patina, am I right?

For the comparison of style and workmanship with samples dated by recognized bodies or experts  is rather difficult unless you have really good pictures. That was what I was trying to do with the table I have mentioned before. If could be of interest I can post it on NMB but the pdf file I fear will be quite huge!

 

Anyway thank you Jean for your explanation.

 

Regards

Luca

[ROKUJURO]

Luca,

if you have interesting TSUBA research material, I would be grateful to receive it via my e-mail address: forge.collin(at)gmail.com. 

I answered to Matt's post because I like these HEIANJO SUKASHI TSUBA very much, and I hope to own a similar one one day!